Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan warned Yun Yun not to return to the Misty Cloud Sect yet and gave her a cultivation technique tailored to her wind-attributed physique. As the Xiao Clan’s coming-of-age ceremony began, Xiao Yan prepared to leave Wutan City for the Tagor Great Desert the next day.

• Xiao Yan advised Yun Yun to cultivate outside the Misty Cloud Sect until she reached the Dou Zong realm, and Yun Yun agreed.
• Xiao Yan told Yun Yun he planned to travel to the Tagor Great Desert to seek the Green Lotus Core Flame and its treasures.
• Xiao Yan gave Yun Yun a wind- and sword-focused cultivation technique derived from the Chaos Life-Nourishing Technique, and she began cultivating with it.
• The Xiao Clan held its coming-of-age ceremony, drawing many visitors after the Jia Lie and Oba clans had been destroyed.
• Xiao Yan sat with Xun'er at the ceremony and reflected on his departure for the Tagor Great Desert the following day.

After completing the Xiao Clan's adult ceremony, Xiao Yan set out for the Tagor Great Desert with Qing Lin and Hai Bo Dong. They departed aboard the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King, leaving Wutan City behind.

• Xiao Yan finished the adult ceremony, rested, and took Qing Lin to the back mountain the next morning.
• Hai Bo Dong asked about Qing Lin, and Xiao Yan told him that the group's affairs in Wutan City were settled and invited him to the Tagor Great Desert.
• The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King arrived, and Hai Bo Dong was startled to see the powerful magical beast obey Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan and Qing Lin boarded the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King, which flew toward the Tagor Great Desert, while Hai Bo Dong followed under his own power.

Xiao Yan reached Stone Desert City, left Qing Lin with Hai Bo Dong to protect his brothers, and continued into the Tagor Great Desert to search for the Green Lotus Core Flame. He comprehended a saber Dou skill that combined with Yun Yun’s Poet Immortal Sword Prelude, but Hai Bo Dong sensed Queen Medusa nearby.

• The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King refused to take his son along, while Xiao Yan asked Hai Bo Dong to guard his two brothers and had Qing Lin stay in Stone Desert City.
• Xiao Yan left Qing Lin with Hai Bo Dong and departed for the Tagor Great Desert to find the Green Lotus Core Flame.
• As they crossed the desert, Xiao Yan comprehended the Vertical-Horizontal Art and its combined technique with Yun Yun’s sword skill.
• Hai Bo Dong sensed Queen Medusa’s aura.

Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong encountered Queen Medusa in the Tagor Great Desert, where her sealing art and formidable charm shaped the tense confrontation. The chapter ended with Medusa recognizing Xiao Yan as the one Hai Bo Dong served and taking his challenge seriously.

• Queen Medusa appeared before Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong, and Hai Bo Dong recognized her sealing art as a danger.
• Medusa threatened Hai Bo Dong for breaking her seal, while he warned Xiao Yan about her power.
• Xiao Yan stopped Hai Bo Dong and said he wanted to test Medusa's true strength.
• Medusa mistook Xiao Yan for Hai Bo Dong's son, but Hai Bo Dong clarified that he was Xiao Yan's guard.
• Medusa realized Xiao Yan was important enough to command Hai Bo Dong and responded to his provocation.

Xiao Yan faced Queen Medusa after the Vajra Four Principles technique stirred his Dou Qi and left him eager to obtain her evolved Heavenly Flame. Medusa unleashed her Snake Seal, and Xiao Yan charged at it with Hai Bo Dong held in front of him, while Medusa prepared to use the technique again if needed.

• Xiao Yan circulated the Vajra Four Principles and reflected on the Heavenly Flames he needed to advance his cultivation method.
• Xiao Yan taunted Medusa, who summoned her Dou Qi wings and gathered natural energy to unleash her Snake Seal.
• Hai Bo Dong warned Xiao Yan about Medusa's sealing technique as a blazing red energy python formed and attacked.
• Xiao Yan grabbed Hai Bo Dong, suppressed his Dou Qi by pressing a vital acupoint, and used him as a shield while charging the python.
• Medusa recognized Xiao Yan's tactic and considered that she could quickly unleash the Snake Seal again.

Xiao Yan revealed that his Calamity-Breaking Golden Pill had made Hai Bo Dong resistant to seals, nullifying Medusa’s Snake Seal and removing her main advantage over him. Medusa attacked Xiao Yan with a seven-colored serpent sword, but he stopped her strike with a single precise motion.

• A golden barrier erupted around Hai Bo Dong and melted Medusa’s Snake Seal after Xiao Yan released him.
• Xiao Yan explained that his pill had granted Hai Bo Dong resistance to seals, and Hai Bo Dong realized it was far beyond the Evil-Breaking Pill he had supplied the formula for.
• Xiao Yan said seals cast by anyone below the Dou Zong realm would no longer work on Hai Bo Dong.
• Medusa removed her veil, formed a seven-colored serpent sword, and charged Xiao Yan across the Tagor Great Desert.
• Xiao Yan drew insight from Medusa’s swordsmanship and blocked her blade with a precise flick of his fingers, astonishing Hai Bo Dong.

Xiao Yan fought Medusa with his Vertical-Horizontal Art, overpowering her with his strength while learning from her swordsmanship. He unleashed a sharper technique that drove Medusa back, leaving her unable to match his power.

• Xiao Yan advanced on Medusa with the golden saber of the Hengzong Art: Swift as a Shooting Star.
• Medusa blocked Xiao Yan’s blows with her snake sword, which cracked under the impact before her fiery Dou Qi restored it.
• Xiao Yan and Medusa exchanged sword and saber techniques as he studied her unpredictable style.
• Xiao Yan unleashed Vertical-Horizontal Art, Wu Hooks Beneath the Bright Frost Moon, and forced Medusa back with a series of powerful slashes.

Xiao Yan defeated Medusa’s attack with a newly comprehended Ethereal Sword Technique and uncovered a place beneath the Tagor Great Desert with unusually dense fire-attributed energy. Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong suspected the Green Lotus Core Flame lay below, while Medusa also recognized the possibility of a Heavenly Flame.

• Medusa detonated her snake sword and released a poisonous red mist, but Xiao Yan cleaved through the explosion with his blade.
• Medusa flew into the air with twin swords as Xiao Yan comprehended the Ethereal Sword Technique and embedded his ancient sword in the desert.
• Xiao Yan used the First Sword, Break, to smash through Medusa’s spinning attack and send her crashing across the sand.
• Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong noticed dense fire-attributed energy in the ravine and concluded the Green Lotus Core Flame might lie underground.
• Medusa sensed the unusual energy and looked toward the ravine with delight, prompting Hai Bo Dong to regard her doubtfully.

Xiao Yan explained that Medusa wanted the Heavenly Flame to undergo a strange evolution and become a Dou Zong, while Hai Bo Dong weighed the threat of provoking the Serpent-People Tribe. He revealed that Medusa’s companion soul was the Purple Nether Flame Serpent, leaving her unusual affinity for fire unexplained.

• Medusa claimed the Heavenly Flame for the Serpent-People Tribe and threatened to summon its leaders and elders if Hai Bo Dong opposed her.
• Hai Bo Dong challenged Medusa’s claim but held back after considering the consequences of mobilizing the Serpent-People Tribe.
• Xiao Yan explained that a Heavenly Flame could trigger Medusa’s evolution, allowing her to take human form and reach Dou Zong strength.
• Xiao Yan described the Serpent-People Tribe’s different clans and said Medusa’s constitution must have unique qualities.
• Xiao Yan revealed that Medusa’s companion soul was the Purple Nether Flame Serpent.

Xiao Yan negotiated with Medusa over the Heavenly Flame and offered to let her use it in exchange for helping him cultivate. Hai Bo Dong departed after warning Xiao Yan to beware of Medusa, leaving Xiao Yan alone with the Serpent-People Tribe’s queen.

• Xiao Yan explained that the Purple Nether Flame Serpent could awaken its Heaven Swallowing Python bloodline and that Medusa could use a Heavenly Flame to awaken her potential.
• Medusa considered the risks of using the Heavenly Flame, but the Serpent-People Tribe’s worsening situation left her willing to take the chance.
• Xiao Yan proposed mutually beneficial cooperation and said Medusa could use the Heavenly Flame if she paid his price.
• Medusa agreed that the Serpent-People Tribe could provide many things, and Xiao Yan asked her to help him cultivate.
• Medusa reacted with amusement to Xiao Yan’s request, while Hai Bo Dong warned him that she was exceptionally ruthless before flying away.

Xiao Yan and Medusa joined forces to locate the Heavenly Flame beneath the desert, using Medusa’s secret technique and Xiao Yan’s soul perception to guide their descent. They plunged into a tunnel melted through the sand and continued toward the strongest source of fire-attributed energy.

• Medusa said she wanted to use a Heavenly Flame to break through to Dou Zong, and Xiao Yan agreed to help her find one.
• Xiao Yan explained that Medusa’s secret technique could scout their path while his soul perception guided them through the fire-attributed energy.
• Medusa transformed into a massive Purple Nether Flame Serpent, and Xiao Yan melted an opening through the desert with his Heavenly Flames.
• Xiao Yan climbed onto Medusa’s head, and she dove with him into the deep tunnel, melting the surrounding sand to keep it stable.
• Xiao Yan sensed the strongest fire-attributed energy and guided Medusa deeper as the heat around them intensified.

Yun Yun reached the nine-star Dou Emperor realm with Xiao Yan’s cultivation technique and decided to continue training Nalan Yanran instead of returning to the Misty Cloud Sect. As Yun Yun, Nalan Yanran, Xun'er, and Ya Fei each thought about Xiao Yan, he and Medusa broke through into a vast underground magma cavern.

• Yun Yun absorbed the surrounding energy and broke through from eight-star to nine-star Dou Emperor, discovering that her wind-attributed Dou Qi had become sharper and more powerful.
• Nalan Yanran told Yun Yun that the Misty Cloud Sect had repeatedly urged them to return, and Yun Yun decided they would stay away for now and train in the Magical Beast Mountains.
• Nalan Yanran asked to enter the Misty Cloud Sect's Life-and-Death Gate, and Yun Yun agreed, saying she would pass on the sect leader position if Nalan Yanran passed its trial.
• Xun'er thought Xiao Yan might have reached the Tagor Great Desert and decided to prepare to leave Wutan City for Jia Nan Academy.
• Ya Fei lamented that Xiao Yan had left before they could discuss their marriage arrangement and prepared to go to the imperial capital.
• Xiao Yan and Medusa broke through the sand layer and entered a huge cavern filled with flowing red magma.

Xiao Yan and Medusa discovered the vast Magma World beneath the Tagor Great Desert and discussed her dangerous evolution using a Heavenly Flame. Xiao Yan offered to help her in exchange for her prepared resources and a trip to the Serpent-People Tribe, then called out to an unseen listener as he sensed something in the magma.

• Medusa and Xiao Yan emerged above the Magma World, and she asked where the Heavenly Flame was.
• Xiao Yan teased Medusa, removed her veil, and assured her he would not force her while discussing her chance of surviving evolution.
• Medusa asked Xiao Yan to help her evolve, and he claimed he could do so safely after revealing that he had broken Hai Bo Dong's seal.
• Xiao Yan asked for Medusa's prepared materials and said he would go with her to the Serpent-People Tribe, where he hoped to use its Ice Spirit Cold Spring.
• Xiao Yan sensed something beneath the magma and shouted at the unseen presence, making the Magma World tremble.

Xiao Yan and Medusa followed a Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent through the magma until they found the Green Lotus Core Flame. They approached the azure glow as the surrounding temperature climbed.

• Xiao Yan used snake language to persuade the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent to lead them to the Heavenly Flame, and Medusa recognized the beast.
• Xiao Yan took Medusa into the magma and followed the serpent through dangerous currents, protecting her with his flames as she struggled to withstand the heat.
• After more than an hour, Xiao Yan and Medusa reached the Green Lotus Core Flame, which Medusa identified as the nineteenth-ranked Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan stored the wary Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent in his Beast Storage Ring and promised it could eventually advance to the sixth tier.
• Xiao Yan and Medusa moved toward the Green Lotus Core Flame, feeling the temperature rise sharply.

Xiao Yan and Medusa reached the Green Lotus Core Flame and discovered its energy-draining rootstock. After Xiao Yan cut the lotus free, he removed the tendrils that had pierced Medusa’s hand, and they prepared to leave with the Heavenly Flame.

• Medusa spotted the Green Lotus Core Flame and grabbed its rootstock, which drained her Dou Qi and weakened her.
• Xiao Yan warned Medusa about the rootstock’s energy absorption and used a jade knife to sever it from the lotus platform.
• Xiao Yan collected the fallen lotus, which shrank to the size of his palm, and stored the rootstock in the Bone Flame Ring.
• Xiao Yan drew blood from Medusa’s finger and explained that tendrils had pierced her hand and were still absorbing her Dou Qi.

Xiao Yan returned from the cyan world with Medusa and the three treasures of the Green Lotus Core Flame, then studied the lotus pedestal while they traveled through the desert. After restoring Medusa’s energy with a pill, he experienced sudden enlightenment and comprehended the Green Lotus Genesis Canon.

• Xiao Yan dismissed Medusa’s safety as unimportant beyond its effect on his cultivation, angering her as they left the cyan world.
• Medusa flew toward the Serpent-People Tribe while Xiao Yan followed on the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent and examined the lotus pedestal.
• Xiao Yan stopped the serpent to rest and gave it two energy-restoring pills, then offered Medusa a separate pill.
• Medusa swallowed Xiao Yan’s pill, recovered her energy, and teased him about using the lotus pedestal to cultivate.
• Xiao Yan drew on Yao Lao’s alchemy experience, his own experience, and deductions about the Flame Mantra to comprehend the Green Lotus Genesis Canon.

Xiao Yan completed the Green Lotus Genesis Canon, a technique that nurtured Heavenly Flames until they developed spirits, and weighed its benefits against the risks of separating the flames within his body. He realized the technique was a foundation for a stronger cultivation method and left the Heavenly Flames in his Dou Qi vortex as a prototype Emperor Flame.

• Xiao Yan considered how the Green Lotus Genesis Canon could give Heavenly Flames intelligence and allow them to grow as independent entities.
• Xiao Yan recognized that separating his fused Heavenly Flames would sharply reduce his strength and weaken Ink Frenzy's weapons by damaging the Blood Forbidden Seal.
• Xiao Yan recalled how his ideas for separating and gathering Heavenly Flame energy had developed from studying the Misty Cloud Sect's Cloud-Smoke Covering Sun Formation and making the Flame Spirit Sacred Garment.
• Xiao Yan viewed the technique as a promising prototype and recognized the fused Heavenly Flames in his Dou Qi vortex as a prototype Emperor Flame.
• Medusa asked Xiao Yan what he was thinking as he sat smiling at the Heavenly Flames.

Xiao Yan used Medusa’s alluring presence to cultivate the Vajra Four Principles secret art after deciding the Green Lotus Core Flame could not help him advance. He left Medusa unharmed but humiliated, believing he needed only one more opportunity to condense the Super Fallen Heart Flame.

• Xiao Yan decided that the Green Lotus Core Flame could not help him advance his cultivation technique and turned to Medusa instead.
• Xiao Yan restrained Medusa and cultivated the Vajra Four Principles secret art while her natural seductive power affected him.
• Xiao Yan reflected that he had six Heavenly Flames and five remaining slots for Earthfire Lotus Seed spirits, and that he was close to condensing the Super Fallen Heart Flame.
• Medusa threatened to tear Xiao Yan apart once she became strong enough, but Xiao Yan released her without harming her.
• Xiao Yan told Medusa that her charm would not make him lose control and concluded that she still needed to help him find an opportunity to break through.

Xiao Yan wagered that he could help transform the Tagor Great Desert into a place where the Serpent-People Tribe could live, proposing to create a new plant from Ice Spirit Flame Grass and Green Lotus Core Flame rootstock. Medusa accepted the bet and took him toward the tribe, while Xiao Yan considered how the work could advance his understanding of the Life Spirit Flame.

• Xiao Yan challenged Medusa to a bet, claiming he could keep his true heart against her charms and asking her to help with what had happened earlier if she lost.
• Xiao Yan offered to transform the Tagor Great Desert into a greener habitat for the Serpent-People Tribe, and Medusa questioned how he could do it.
• Xiao Yan showed Medusa the Ice Spirit Flame Grass and Green Lotus Core Flame rootstock, explaining that their traits could be combined to create a new plant.
• Medusa accepted the wager and urged Xiao Yan to choose serpent women, while Xiao Yan retrieved the Green Lotus Seat and prepared to leave with her.
• Xiao Yan stored the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent and flew with Medusa toward the Serpent-People Tribe, thinking the plant research could deepen his comprehension of the Life Spirit Flame.

Xiao Yan and Medusa traveled to a hidden island in a desert temple, where Medusa showed him the Ice Spirit Cold Spring she had gathered for his help with her breakthrough. Xiao Yan recognized that its ice energy could aid the Bone Chilling Flame’s condensation, while his research into desert plants had led him to comprehend the Blue Ice Blazing Flame Tree.

• Xiao Yan comprehended the Blue Ice Blazing Flame Tree, a plant that absorbed fire-element energy in heat and released it as ice energy when temperatures fell.
• Medusa brought Xiao Yan through a temple to a poisonous lake protected by an aerial restriction.
• Medusa summoned an emerald-scaled giant python, which carried her and Xiao Yan to an island in the lake.
• Medusa led Xiao Yan to a pool of Ice Spirit Cold Spring that she had collected to help seal a Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan told Medusa he could help her evolve successfully, though he needed time to think through the process.